


Destiny and the Dog

by Mountainhead



Category: RWBY
Genre: Original Character(s), Post Volume 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-28 16:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7648612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mountainhead/pseuds/Mountainhead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A prequel story to RWBY to explain why Ozpin knows so much and doesn't feel like sharing.<br/>Most of the characters are original.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. While in School : Meeting

The words I am here to inscribe onto a digital document happened before I had the power to be a part of them. Please forgive the documentary nature of this file, the only words that were ever my own come at the end, that is when I say,

“I believe that there is no escape.” 

I see after having gathered together all of the reports and notes that I am not wrong. I have yet to lose hope.

The source of my information was a member of the team in whose adventure I played only as a pawn sent to check the King at the end of the match. This team was based on the traditional four man grouping common to most Huntsman practices. 

However, at the time the students entered Beacon the administrative assistant to the Headmaster had an autocorrect error on their scroll when they messaged him that “both Vibrant twins qualified” instead of “brother Vi’s rantin’ qualified” which was a reference to Brother Vianes an outspoken gentleman who was the leader of some rabble rousers engaged in cleaning out the Faunus from the community.

Coincidently there was a Vibrant child, only he wasn't a twin, and he happened to find out about this message and chose to use it to his own advantage. 

Not much of a team player himself, he thought, why don't I have a twin? So he built himself one. 

It is convenient for me that this man was a note taker, journal writer and general observationist. There is a lot that can be said about this robot, android? Thing… Suffice it enough to say that it looked like him, acted like him, and was mostly him, because to make it work he spread his own soul into the machine, and that is a curious thing that hasn't been replicated since but has spawned something else entirely.

So he had his “partner” for the four years of his duration at Beacon. His team was another matter. I have the video of their first meeting, it is the earliest document I have from the Vibrant twin Adime. Being an android he found it convenient to record certain things and store them, this was the first time he was turned on and he found it exciting.

\----  
Turing, Adime’s brother is pulling him to his feet, checking his joints and shaking the dust out of his hair. Adime reaches a hand out to mimic checking over Turing, he seems distracted by his hand but Turing squeezes the hand and smiles.   
Then the noise registers. Adime scans the area and sees the fourteen other students for the new year at Beacon. They are in a pit, probably a canyon, and one of the students is being dragged away by a scorpion? Adime stares at the huge monster and Turing tells him it is a Grimm, the enemy, a Death Stalker. Turing apologizes that this will be his first experience, he had hoped the team forming ritual would be a simple personality test. 

Several people have run by to help the boy being dragged away. A woman's voice is calling to them. She is standing on a hovering platform, and she asks them to join her team so that they can get out of here. Adime looks to Turing, who fixes his glasses and nods. Adime looks up at the woman in the Atleasian garb, much like his own. Turing pushes Adime forward, telling him to get over it. ----I assume in this case Turing is telling his brother to snap out of his first crush.

They are the only calm figures in the pit, Grimm are crawling out of cracks in the walls, popping out of the ground and generally chasing people down. Another team has formed and they are making their way up the cliff, leaving the rest far behind. Turing and the woman seem to be of the same mind, just leave them behind. Adime can see the vitals of all the people in the pit, and some have their Auras depleted already. They were going to die. Turing is still walking steadily to the wall, his coat tails whipping around as the pit succumbs to the chaos. Adime does what his brother does and ignores them all.

From the corner of his eye he sees a person walk out of his shadow. Startled he stops but the person has jumped out and on top of the Beowolf that had been stalking him. The Beowolf slumps to the ground after she plants her bladed short staff into its brains. She winks at him and drops back into another shadow. 

Adime spins around to try and find her again, there over on the south side, coming out of the wall taking on an Ursa to save someone else. Turing is getting a bit ahead, so Adime jogs up to him. They are nearly at the wall the only other group to make it this far away from the real danger. At the wall the woman simply uses her platform to scale it, but Adime and Turning must begin to climb. On a few occasions Turing uses his Semblance to catch Adime, which surprises Adime because Turing’s semblance is only supposed to work on organic matter.

They are a quarter of the way up the wall when the Death Stalker decides that they should join the pit party. The cliff shakes and Adime falls, Turing tumbling right after him. They land on the Death Stalker’s head. 

The woman stops her ascent and watches them. Turing ignores her and takes out his weapon. Adime does his best to keep his balance. With skilled fingers Turing assembles the hilt of his weapon from the collapsed rifle position it had been in. Turing is a sniper, using a long range weapon suits his calm mental state, but in this situation when he cannot view the whole scene and target his enemies he has to resort to using the other side of his weapon. Which appropriately is a heavy two hand sword perfect for his reserved movements. The rifle uses electric dust for its rounds so this sword is a burst, plasma edged blade, pure sparking, flashing blue-green energy shaped into a double edged sword.

Turing lets the sword crash into the Death Stalkers skull. No results, he picks it up and tries again, and again until the Death Stalker begins to shake in order to drop them to the ground. Turing tells Adime to jump down and freeze the Death Stalker so he can kill it. 

Adime obeys, running through the best course to take. He has his own arsenal of dust to tap into, but Adime doesn't think popping elements in the Stalkers face is the best option. So as he steps down in front of the large incisors of the beast he finds the best choice to be grabbing the pincers and dragging the whole head down. He can hear Turing laughing as he runs up onto the bug's abdomen. He is gleefully swinging the blade, huge arcs of blue flashing beyond what Adime can see.

With the Death Stalkers head in the ground, the arms swing wildly to find Adime. It darts its tail into the ground on all sides of him but can't crush him. 

There is a blast and Adime sees that Turing is using his rifle to blast off the monster's tail. The Death Stalker is roaring, howling in pain? Adime turns because he hears whistling. It is the hovering woman, she seems to have grown impatient, after she has his attention she motions him to move. Adime knows Turing could use some help removing the tail so he jumps up over the head and slides down the sliced exoskeleton.

The hovering woman grabs her platform, and she begins to fall. Adime hands Turing some combustion dust, and watches the woman transform. She has pulled the platform against her chest and it morphs around her body and over her head, giving her armor. She pulls herself into a ball and rolls forward. As she comes back around Adime sees in her hands is a ghostly war hammer. The shaft is as long as her torso, and the front of the head is a vertical column for bludgeoning while the back end has a wicked hook. She holds it in her right hand and with her left she tosses up a grenade, then she sings and hits the grenade right onto the Death Stalkers head, she timed it so well the grenade didn't have a chance to bounce and exploded on contact.   
The skull is cracked open from the blast. She is still falling and she is aimed right for the crack. Turing takes a final swing at the tail and severs it. They jump off just as the woman plunges her hammer right into the crack. She jumps away leaving her hammer smoking behind her inside the Death Stalkers cranium. She is beside them dragging them away, running because her hammer is set to explode. They are flung forward by the force, but the Death Stalker doesn't survive.

Adime looks around, no one is left in the canyon, nobody and no Grimm. Out of his shadow once more appears the person. Inky black as if his shadow were clinging to them. A wink again and Adime is reassured. First the person drags in the woman who screams and fights the whole way into the shadow and then Turing who grabs Adime's hand and pulls him in with him.  
The recording cuts here or something else replaces whatever information was recorded. Kivoli’s shadow is not reported to be a dark place instead she has often insisted that is rather full of many things including light.

Kivoli had been steadily taking out the smaller Grimm and bringing the incapacitated students to the top of the canyon. She had arrived for them just before Natoya's hammer had sent them flying.

At the top many of the students were just sitting back up when Natoya helped pull Turing and Adime out of Kivoli’s shadow. Natoya thanked her and Kivoli smiled and punched her in the arm, noting how Bad Ass her weapon was, and did she need her to go back down and grab it. Natoya thanked her but said no, the hammer was a dust construction, and so she merely had to reform the dust should she need another one. Kivoli punched her arm again and said how cool that was. 

That was when Adime saw Kivoli’s black monkey tail. Then he next registered the other students staring at the tail disapprovingly, and how they looked at him and turned their backs on their group.

\----Just after this the Headmaster came forward to greet them and lead them all back to the school courtyard. All the students ignored Kivoli, who paid them no mind and kept up a constant conversation with Natoya and Adime. Natoya was not bothered by the tail like the rest of the class and Adime queried Turing about the student's behavior. 

\----At the time team TANK was at Beacon the school was two years old, meaning the Great War had just ended two years prior. Meaning Faunus discrimination was to such an extreme level that when the school was attacked a few months later for allowing Faunus onto the grounds and into the Kingdom, there wasn't much punishment that could be dealt on the violent citizens of Vale.


	2. While in School: Notes about the Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a description of the team, clothing, semblance and weapons, stuff like that.

TANK: Turing Vibrant, Adime Vibrant, Natoya Shinling, Kivoli Muuaji

The Vibrant twins hail from Atlas. Adime is an android unit and Turing coined his name from the fact that it cost him a dime for the supplies to build him, and Adime is similar to Adam the first man in his family to walk out of the Great War alive. Being Atlesian Turing is a strict individual, at least towards himself, he is proud of Adime and tends to only smile around him. Turing’s aura is not particularly powerful and he finds no qualms about this do to the fact his pursuits are aimed at researching Remnant. As noted by Adime, Turing’s semblance works on organic matter only, because Turing is a puppeteer. Controlling the heart and minds of creatures and the systems of plants, he often could only insure that Grimm did not move allowing Adime or his teammates to kill them with no resistance, but when pressed he found he could direct plant growth or make Grimm fight one another. 

His sniper rifle allows him perspective and distance, probably a product of feeling trapped in Atlas. The heavy sword form of his rifle was forced upon him by his uncle Adam, who told him a blade is the only weapon worth having.

Adime is an all purpose unit, a brother, a puppet, a hoverbike, a storage unit and for a very particular reason a frying pan. 

Natoya Shinling is also from Atlas, while she was reserved in the pit this is an unusual instance of that behavior. Her teammates first described her as volatile until they found its source and resolved the conflict. Sadly this resolution wasn't exactly healthy either and ultimately destroyed her. Before that however she was partnered with Kivoli. Both were like Turing, researchers. Natoya is from a military family and her clothing showcases the geometric leather clothing particular to that time. Her colors were the same as Turing and Adime’s, pale blues, greens and white. She wore the heavy jacket and pants to protect her prosthetic limbs from view. Her left foot, right leg, right arm and left side of her torso and that arm are all mechanical. When Kivoli finally convinced her to show them off, the team was surprised at how delicate they looked. Nearly transparent with veins of dust running through the limbs, they were bright and powerful. Because her body was mostly mechanical she was extremely concerned with the fact that a majority of her chest and head were not, therefore that she had armor for those areas is no surprise. Her weapon was really just battle armor, that contained her dust and grenades, and she could use it to fly. Her semblance is a sensory one, allowing her to locate living matter, the range for it during her time at beacon wasn't much more than 500 meters in any direction. I thought, at first that it was an odd semblance for her but as I read through her history I understood why it came about.

Kivoli Muuaji is a Faunus from Vale. The sign her team first noticed was her tail, but she also sported fierce canines and a powerful jaw. She is easily the strongest member of the team, the funniest and the most idealistic. Without her the team would never have lasted, Turing was too withdrawn and Natoya too narrow to have pushed the team anywhere. 

She chose to wear no armor or any sort of protective garb, her chosen articles of clothing were a walking resource for a culture of assassins. Her tribe was notorious for their art. Her clothing consisted of a frightening death mask on top of her head, beads around her neck, geometrically patterned cloth of various shades of black wrapped around her chest and then over her biceps, with the tails hanging to her knees. Her forearms were covered in decorative bracers, which I don't doubt carried some sort of darts. These bracers were covered in tokens, which she would often pull off and leave in places. When asked why, she would only wink and say, in case I need a way back. She wrapped her legs in a sweeping cloth that came to her ankles in the front and the back but did not restrict her on the sides. Adime was often smacked for staring at her legs which were covered in more tokens and patterned fabric shaped to her calves and thighs. On her back she carried a large shield, reminiscent of the shape of an eye vertically orientated, it doubled as a large mask that she sometimes tossed into the air to both frighten and cast a shadow. Beneath the shield she hid her weapon. A three piece bo staff with a spear head, capable of splitting into a two shorter sections, the tonfas, were tipped with leaf like blades, and should she need to use it the tonfas also flipped into assault rifles. Her semblance allowed her to walk into shadows, jumping anywhere she could see had a shadow, a hereditary semblance that aided her family’s careers. Kivoli was so skilled she often only had to use the small blade on her decorated tail to kill her target, reaching it through the shadow of the victim and striking their jugular vein.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.  
> Thoughts?


	3. While in School: The Siege

The team was moved in, attending classes, practicing techniques, learning to live with one another and combating the growing tension rising in the Kingdom. The other students were the first sign that Faunus participation and acceptance in the community was not on the table. Natoya had to be regularly reminded to not threaten people for spitting at Kivoli. It was easily apparent that she had been raised in a bubble, Turing sat her down one afternoon and explained to her that she could either attack the world or overcome its general attitude and do what she needed to do, which was become a huntress. Kivoli pointed out that she was in school and that was a good sign for the forward thinking of the headmaster, that and she was a Bad Ass who deserved nothing less.

The heat of the day had decided the team on remaining in the shade. The morning was behind them and an afternoon of studying lay ahead, before they decided to surrender to the Library they wanted to enjoy the sun and the trees on the grounds of the school. ---Turing describes this afternoon in his notebook because he claims it was the last calm one of that year. The rest a jumble of politics, disgruntled citizens, and ultimately the siege of the school at the end of their first year.

\---His notes do not pinpoint dates only that as the year progressed, he developed a style of leading and a signature for their team. Expressing their skills in tracking large parties of Grimm, trapping them and dispatching them swiftly. There are several starred notes about Natoya’s ferocity, always focused during the hunts on the Grimm. I see that Turing kept track of the flaws of his team, noting his own first, which was a general disregard for emotion and forming connections. Natoya’s volatile nature concerned him because it kept her from being trustworthy in intense situations, however Kivoli proved to be exceptional in looking after her and still completing all the missions. Turing found Kivoli's hero like bull-headedness would probably lead her into trouble if she didn't get over whatever seed had planted it within her.

\--- The fruition of the disturbed, prejudiced minds of the civilians was showcased in a march towards the school, that grew quickly, escalated into violent behaviors and was not stopped by the authorities so that the school had to close it gates.

\--- Adime has a recording of the morning the siege was announced to the school.

The voice of the Headmaster cuts into the darkness, Adime opens his eyes and sees Turing looking out the window, his heavy coat open, his shoes off and his shirt not tucked in. Kivoli is on the edge of her bed, only her tail twitching shows her agitation and guilt. Natoya has her hand on her shoulder, her nostrils are flared, she is angry but is not letting it boil over. She asks Turing what he sees. He steps aside, adjusts his glasses and says that the attack will most likely begin as the temperature rises to its pinnacle. 

Adime takes in the crowd at the gates. They are dark, ominous, massive against the sparkling white stone that protects the grounds from Grimm, not humanity. Turing is looking at Adime, seeming to decide what action to take. The Headmaster has finished his request to the students, a call to action, to defend their school and ultimately humanity or to succumb to elitism and prejudices and lower themselves to the soulless. 

Turing tells them to get ready, they are going to meet the Headmaster in the courtyard.  
They are not the only team in the courtyard but they are the only undivided one. The Headmaster sees this right away and while he directs the other teams to guard the wall, he asks their team to find the man who has been shouting the loudest for over a year. Brother Vianes, is the head of the snake, poisoning the minds of the civilians.

\---Turing makes a note of how tested he felt in this situation. His team had never done any sort of sneaking and capturing mission and he knew they would have to adapt their usual performances to this situation.

Adime was ordered to walk with Natoya through the crowd to gather information to be relayed back to him. Turing and Kivoli would hide out in the shadows looking over the whole area to understand its structure. 

The Headmaster agreed with Turing that the violence would begin at the height of the day, when the heat made the passions of the people boil over. They would have to learn as much as they could before then.

Adime shared Turing's soul, whatever he learned was translated to Turing along that connection, and vice versa. Natoya blended into the crowd and Adime trailed her drawing more attention because he was so focused on following her. They walked in a spiral, starting with the outer edge of the mass. These people were the armed protesters, several members of the police force and even a few huntsmen. Inner rings were mostly citizens, some political figures, news reporters and children who were pulled in by the fever or their parents. They could see no skeleton, no nervous system for the people. No one carried a scroll that they could see, or any type of relay device.

On the eastern portion of the crowd, at the edge of the tree line they found armed men, the hired kind, and two men discussing over a map. Turing directed Kivoli to this location, they hung in the trees just above this group. Adime and Natoya stayed just out of sight from the hired hands, but close.

The morning was gone, they hadn't learned how the head communicated with the body, but they had found the brain. Brother Vianes was one of the men looking over the map, he was their target. Turing knew he was missing something but his objective was clueless just below him so he ordered Kivoli to capture him in her shadow and take him back to the Headmaster while they dealt with the repercussions. She refused of course, but he only repeated his orders, she said she would be back as quickly as she could.

Turing nodded, expecting nothing less from the hero. Kivoli knew which shadow she would be dragging Brother Vianes into and which one she would be jumping out of, the silver moon token under the large tree in the courtyard, where they had spent an afternoon lounging in their first semester.

With the plan before her she slipped out of the tree, moving quietly to a lower limb and then swinging down and onto Brother Vianes dragging him into his own shadow. They were gone in the blink of an eye. Kivoli had even managed to take the map with her. The other man yelled for the guards, who were facing outwards. They rushed in and Turing told Adime to wait with Natoya. He listened to the conversation below.

The final decision after some bickering was that the line should move against the gate, break it down and deliver the message. Turing knew that somehow they had missed the bomb in the crowd and the battering ram that would deliver it. He asked Adime to ask Natoya about sensing a bomb, she said she couldn't, her semblance only worked on organic matter. Well, what about sensing an agitated person sitting next to a bomb? That she could probably do. 

Adime stares at Natoya as she closes her eyes and a pale ring appears in the ground around her feet, it is a soft green light, that pulses softly. As she looks to the north the ring becomes oblong, as if pulled that direction. When she looks west her eyes fly open and she whispers to Adime that there are three very agitated people sitting in a triangle formation. Turing orders them to stop those men before “the line” is moved. Adime is uncomfortable leaving Turing, but Turing orders him to stay with Natoya.

Natoya is running away from Adime, pushing through shouting people, leaving Adime to climb over the fallen, and pissed off citizens. The crowd closes in around them, and Natoya springs over their heads and lands on her platform, reaching down for Adime just as shots begin to be heard. The wall is being attacked and students are returning fire. The crowd roars and surges forward. They hover ten feet above the crowd no longer on anyone's mind. They look at the ripple of movement, an arrow slamming into the gates.

Natoya flies them to the men looking after the bomb. They are in a tent, one of them peeking out to watch the crowd as it walks by. Adime hears him ask when “the line” will begin to roll. Turing hears this as well and wonders if some sort of vehicle will be used to break the gate and facilitate the delivery of the bomb.

Natoya has stopped them just above the tent, no one pays them any mind. Turing tells Adime to capture the men and dismantle the bomb until it's harmless. Adime asks Natoya to remain above and stop anyone from entering the tent. She scoffs and asks him how he plans to handle the situation alone. Turing tells Adime to flush the men out of their hiding spot like they would any Grimm and have Natoya incapacitate them.

Adime drops just in front of the tent flaps and calls for help. All three men peek their heads out and see Adime rolling on the ground holding his knee, one of the three walks out to him. Adime points to the tree and says that a Faunus attacked him, it is just in those trees there. The man calls to his friends who jump at the chance to hunt a Faunus and get away from the bomb. 

Natoya took the hint and went into the trees to hunt the fools. 

Adime walks into the tent and within five minutes disarms the weapon, and in another ten has each part divided from the whole. Turing tells him that is a job well done, and to go check on Natoya.

Waiting outside the trees is Natoya, just taking off her armor, the three men are frozen to the tree, seemingly grateful to how cool the ice is against the heat of the afternoon. Turing tells them to interrogate them to find out what “the line” is.

The men don't answer at first, embarrassed at their defeat, and merely shouting the catch phrases Brother Vianes used to rope them in. Adime asks them what they planned to tell their children and wives at the end of the day, that they blew up a school with innocent students inside or that they were stopped from ruining their own lives and ending the lives of others. The men look at one another and the oldest one looks up at Natoya, she is in a wide stance with her arms by her sides looking down at them, shocked herself at Adime’s blunt interpretation of the day's events.

\---Turing interviews his teammates at the end of the day to check in on their mental states. The outcome of Natoya’s interview leads Turing to confirm that her metaphorical bubble had burst. Afterwards Natoya often asked Adime about his childhood, of which Turing had to feed him the information, and walked with Kivoli asking about Faunus or for tales of Kivoli’s adventures, of which there is no shortage.

The men explain that “the line” is indeed a vehicle, designed to crack open the gates. Brother Vianes had been driving it around all week to rally the supporters. Turing frowned, public spectacle to a new instrument of destruction, was the Great War really even over? 

The man below him looks out over the rioting crowd, to the south there are the sounds of cheering and whooping. Turing brings out his scope and scans that section of the crowd. There was the vehicle, heavy and shining in the sun, piloted by a machine. Turing looks back down at the man and can see no remote device he would use to command the machine. Either Brother Vianes had it or it was merely a timed device set on a straight path, which it had, if the crowd kept parting for it. 

Turing orders Adime to stop the vehicle, to leave Natoya with the three men and to do it quickly.

Kivoli jumps into sight in another tree, Turing points to the parting crowd and sends her on her way. He watches her progress through the crowd, stealthily jumping from one shadow to another, the people not paying the gremlin in their shadows any attention.

Adime sees that the vehicle is controlled by a robot and hops into the passenger seat, waving to a few members of the crowd to play off the action. Kivoli spots him and laughs at his dopey grin, with one hand Adime disconnects wires and with the other he hypes up the crowd. Kivoli remains close so that when the vehicle stops they can jump away. 

The engine coughs, splutters and klunks to a heavy halt. The crowd falters and Adime looks just as surprised as them, he rises and Kivoli reaches out from the side of the vehicle grabbing his collar and pulling him down inside of his own shadow. 

They collect Natoya and and are back in Turing’s tree in ten minutes. 

The man has sent his hired friends towards the vehicle, he doesn't watch them make their way slowly but instead sweats as he looks to the fighting crowds at the gate. There is nothing either side can do, the students fire warning shots while the citizens fire into the air unable to hit anything.

Turing motions that they all surround this man while he is alone. Kivoli lands first and pins him to the ground, Turing posts Adime and Natoya to look out for the hired guns. 

Turing asks how the vehicle is being controlled. Kivoli twists the man's wrist when he doesn't respond. He gasps out that it was merely on a track, the path was lined with dust to power the engine and the wheels were locked to only take it forward. 

What did you hope to accomplish?

A spectacle, one war is over but the next needs to get on its way.

This man locks eyes with Kivoli, but before he can spit at her Turing drops his rifle onto his temple, snapping it back and rendering him unconscious.

Kivoli asks if he should be brought to the Headmaster as well. But Turing shakes his head, he knows because the Kingdom’s own police force was a part of the riot that this man would not suffer from any repercussions for his actions today. He tells them to leave him, they need to sweep through the line at the wall and send everyone away. 

How? 

Turing frowns at Kivoli, you can't come with us, go back to the Headmaster with all of our information. He tells her about the location of the bomb and the three men stuck to the tree. 

Kivoli can see that Turing doesn't want to upset the crowd, but she sees that the safety of her teammates is more important. Turing tells her that they can handle themselves, now go. 

Natoya gives her a thumbs up, and Kivoli punches her shoulder telling her to hurry it up. She steps back into her shadow, the ink spreading across her body until only the whites of her eyes glowed and they all blinked and she was gone.

Move out.

Natoya flies out ahead, while Adime and Turing run through the trees. Natoya meets them by the wall and says that there are forty armed citizens, four huntsmen and twenty-two police personnel in the front line. How do we stop that?

Carefully.

Natoya I need you to hold my hand. Turing explains that if she can sense where each of the armed members of the crowd are he can pick them out and hopefully make them go to sleep.

Hopefully…..?

Adime cross your fingers for me. 

Turing touches Natoya, and the pale green ring engulfs him as well and he can feel the pull of a flowing current. 

\---Turing wrote that he appreciated this experience. For someone who felt so disconnected from people the opportunity to feel how they were all bound together was not nearly as agitating as he had expected.

Natoya showed him the sixty-six people, they were bright pillars of spiking, rolling energy. He felt a wash of energy, and realized that Adime had sent the part of his soul he carried back into Turing. Natoya was too focused to hear his brother collapse, lifeless. Turing followed the path Natoya showed him.

For seven minutes he connected to each individual, he was vibrating with the effort to keep them all in his mind. It was important that each of them collapsed at the same time. If not the effect wouldn't disrupt the crowd as efficiently.

Turing's left hand was out in front of him, his eyes were open but he couldn't see it, he saw the wall and faces above him from sixty-six pairs of eyes. His fingers were spread wide, he imagined the sixty-six strings extending from it, and he pulled the strings, he balled his hand into a fist and whispered to it. 

Sleep.

Those sixty-six violent minds quieted, red visions blurred and eyes closed. With each mind that stilled Turing disconnected, cut the strings and the bodies fell to the ground, nearly simultaneously.

Natoya caught him. He nodded at her and she squeezed his shoulder.

\--- Because Turing collapsed from exhaustion here his notes are none too accurate for the fallout. I collected some biased news reports and from the Headmaster’s quote I gather the people lost their nerve when their friends with the guns fainted, from heat exhaustion….  
Turing's next notes of that day detail his waking up in the infirmary with his teammates around him and Adime on a bed next to his. 

He grabs his brothers hand and transfers part of his soul into the empty machine. Adime squeezes his hand in response and slowly sits up. Natoya hugs him and Kivoli punches his shoulder, not phased by making contact with a non-organic body. Turing panics but let's the emotion fade, neither of his teammates seem concerned if they do know.

\--- The Headmaster has a message to his assistant, telling her to order the gates closed for the next two days so that the news reports can circulate and alleviate the tensions.

\--- One of the men that had been responsible for delivering the bomb, wrote in his report that the bomb had malfunctioned and would have been unusable as a message should the vehicle have not also broken down.

\--- It is my understanding that Brother Vianes was released later that day. He did not walk out the front gates, the Headmaster knew that would not be acceptable, instead he instructed Kivoli to take the man into the city and drop him off in front of his home, being sure to broadcast her tail and most charming smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.  
> Thoughts?


	4. While in School: Histories and Null

\---There are many things that can be said about an education from Beacon Academy, but I might be a biased source. Turing keeps track of the improvements his team develops. After the incident of the siege Natoya began to focus on the range of her semblance and its accuracy to be used again in combination with Turing's. Her success grew so much so that she could detect the difference between Grimm and people not on size as she had always done but by intent. She began to feel the emotional state of those things she targeted, and so was generally ready for any situation she found herself in.

Turing made a special record of the development of Adime. He had a soul and therefore an aura, but no semblance. To offset this deficiency Turing adapted Adime, secretly, so that he became the storage unit for the team. He held any equipment they would need for field studies in his legs, his chest protected a large amount of dust and his arms housed a shield unit which doubled as a frying pan. After several trials Adime was proud to show off the fact that he could transform into a hoverbike. Though this was a rare demonstration while they were still in school. Turing had a suspicion that the Headmaster had guessed he had been hoodwinked but had let them get on with it anyway.

Turing himself began to practice martial arts and develop his own physical strength, mainly because Kivoli had obliterated him on several occasions in arm wrestling competitions. He studied his swordsmanship and found that all of the discipline was good for his semblance. Sometimes he could confuse Grimm enough so that they would attack one another.

Kivoli didn't appear to come very far in either her martial arts or semblance abilities. It was true she was already leagues ahead of her team as an individual. However Turing was aware of her solitary fighting style and pushed her to learn to work with the team. Especially with Natoya, who also was a poor team fighter. In their final year the two of them could handle any mission together, specifically because they balanced one another. 

Turing learned Kivoli's fighting style though without the tail several techniques proved impossible. What Kivoli kept to herself was that her semblance was on a time table. As it was a hereditary one many qualities were predetermined. One was that there was a guard residing inside of her shadow. Her teammates never met him. A small armored minion, with an ill humor. It is hard for me to understand the reasons behind the guards being inside the shadow except that upon reaching the age of twenty-six the guard would be free to leave. At that age Kivoli's semblance reached a new stage and she could detach her shadow and use it as a weapon. Until that point it is my guess that the guard was the reserve fighter, the backup should a mission be botched. Who or what the guards are are a secret kept in the Muuaji family.

\--- Turing records several missions in his journals, for various reasons, accomplishments and milestones for the team or Adime. Odd discoveries about Vale or Grimm and also the times that they learned things about each other.

\--- In this entry in his journal Turing says he is surprised by how exhausted he is even though it was only two days out.

Not much more than a mile beyond the sight of the Kingdom walls we met a man. He was an older farmer type who I expected to not pay us any mind. We are easily distinguishable by our gear and personalized clothing, but we were silent at the time. The day was hot and we wanted to reach the shade of the forest some miles ahead of us. This man however caught sight of Kivoli, of course we all thought that he saw her tail but it wasn't the fact that she was a Faunus that upset him. He knew her because of her family's reputation which after today I learned was a poor one. 

After this farmer got past his hateful vocabulary Natoya fired back some choice remarks, Adime stopped her just before what looked like could have been a nasty one and pushed her along. I walked on not noticing that Kivoli had remained as she was when the man started his harassment. When she spoke up behind me I spun back around, because at first I thought she was angry and I was going to herd her along.

Who did I kill?

The man snorted, just like the rest of your family, you claim a kill that wasn't your own. Muuaji are a blight on the good crop of humanity. My father was killed, while he was asleep. You probably hadn't even been born yet.

I'm sorry you grew up without your father.

Your words don't carry much weight for me. If I see you in my village I will see that you be stoned. 

I took this opportunity to interject, we are heading beyond your village so we should be no disruption to your daily life.

So you are going over the hill to stalk and murder another town? 

The man marched up to Kivoli and grabbed the beads around her neck. Adime still had a hand on Natoya which was hardly enough to restrain her. I came up to the man, not grabbing for him but asking him to let my friend go. He glared at me, and it is hard for me to describe his anger, his sadness, he believed he was helping the next family by stopping Kivoli but he didn't understand. Death was a blind circle and when murder was involved the blindness could come from grief or anger. I cannot wrap my head around it.

The man dropped the beads, and hung his head, shaking with grief. He turned away from Kivoli, Natoya flared up at something she must have felt inside of him, but the man changed his mind and just walked away.

When we couldn't see him over the tall grass any longer we relaxed, but the day wasn't meant to go our way. We heard his screams, and we knew right then we would be too late.

Kivoli got there first, and Natoya told us she was surrounded by Boarbatusk. I knew Natoya was furious at herself for not sensing the Grimm, I made a point after it all was over to tell her it wasn't her fault, there were too many extenuating circumstances for her to have been focusing behind them after the encounter they had just had.

I told Adime to go ahead and collect Kivoli so that Natoya could throw in some grenades. With the addition of the hoverbike Adime became much faster. He soon had her back, there were dried tears on her cheeks. I had wanted to offer something to her, but I didn't have the experience to express the right words.

Natoya tossed in the grenades and before the smoke cleared I froze them and Adime and Kivoli went in to make short work of them.

Kivoli walked back with the dead man in her arms. Even before the grenades he had been mortally mauled. Most of his face was gone and several limbs were hanging by the last trappings of skin. Kivoli pulled out a somber blanket from her shadow and covered the body.

We didn't have time to think about what to do next. Natoya informed us that scared and angry villagers were making their way towards us.

There was a lot of confusion and I didn't have any chances to be heard. They were taking Kivoli away. Natoya was too upset but when she grabbed me and I saw her wide eyes I knew something was very wrong. She got out the word Ursa before she pulled on her armor. 

The grass around us exploded with Ursa. Women cried, men stumbled and fell to their knees. I saw Kivoli bow her head. The men holding her were surrounded by three Ursa. 

What had she been thinking about then?

Natoya smashed through two Ursa, froze another and was running at one of the three that surrounded Kivoli. Adime was dispatching the two she had merely disoriented. I'm sure I stood there too long, several of the woman had gathered behind me when I had opened up my weapon. I walked away from them, ten Ursa, one can't move, two occupying Adime, three around Kivoli leaving two in Natoya's path and two in mine.

I can't be sure what happened with Kivoli, but the men that had her survived the attack. I made slow progress to my team, the Ursa proved capable of catching my blade and deflecting it. I changed tactics and shot at them. It was a loud noise and the women behind me screamed. It did the job.

Adime finished with his two as I dispatched mine. Natoya stood over Kivoli who rested on her knees, the two men still holding her, though they were whimpering. Before I could call to Natoya she was running after the remaining Ursa, the only one to drop it and try to escape. 

Adime began to chase after her, he would catch her quickly but I told him to wait, just watch where she goes.

I looked down at Kivoli. I had known for some time the Kivoli was hiding something, her hero like behavior was evidence of something and after much thought I had deduced that she felt guilty. With the knowledge of her family history shown to me. I knew the guilt came from that.

Kivoli work it out, I will see you tomorrow.

Adime and I chased Natoya, finding her at the entrance of a cave hours later. It is extremely difficult to track a woman who can sense a deranged Ursa’s agitated path through the plains into the forest. She must have been at the cave mouth for a long time, there was a grenade in her hand, and she was talking to herself, egging herself on. I only caught the last two sentences.

Until they have nothing. I can take it all from them.

Adime hugged her and she began to sob. All over his dusty coat, into his mechanical shoulder. I can't explain the experience of seeing a robot with half a soul comfort a tortured mind. Adime told her that she was strong, powerful, bright, much brighter than any creature of Grimm. She was stronger than she had been, and will be stronger still, nothing could hurt her, she had her team.

\--- It is this moment that redefined Natoya Shinling. Her history is sad and not singular but it is intense and scarring. 

Natoya was from Atlas, that continent is not known for many warm days out of the year and so many families take advantage of fine blue skies when they get them. Her family took an outing to the hillside. It was just outside the Kingdom walls, regular patrols by the military to ensure the safety of its citizens. No attacks since the war had moved to another continent and the high emotions had stopped bringing the Grimm. The perfect day for a picnic, not an unprecedented tragedy.

Beowolves mauled the family. Natoya's mother was slain and probably eaten, her younger brother was eaten. Her older sister took a hard blow that sent her away from the group and minds of the Grimm, she escaped with a concussion. Natoya's father had fought in the war, had killed men and Grimm, he used his fists to beat back the Grimm. But one grabbed Natoya from behind and ripped off her limbs. The military arrived just as two Beowolves split open her father's head, and tore off his arms.

He survived, five years later he still hadn't woken up from his coma, Natoya planned to leave for Beacon and her sister made the call to disconnect the brain dead body of a man they had called father.

Natoya was three quarters machine, dust fueled, stronger than any human could be, physically stronger that is. That blue sky day haunted Natoya for nine years and with the choice words from another machine she let it go. Let go her lust for the death of all Grimm, her aching heart filled with hope. She knew she was powerful, she felt powerful and she would make sure she never lost that power.

\---Turing has no notes about what Kivoli experienced. He only reports that they met up with her the next day and he did not ask her about the rest of her day and she didn't bring it up either.

\--- My own information gathering skills let me down in this case. I was unable to locate any of those villagers or find any illuminating information for that afternoon. I do have one thing directly from Kivoli that may make things clear. The only notes I have ever found written by Kivoli detail an afternoon with her tribe when she was too young to be an assassin.

The wood shavings do not prick my feet as I walk across them. Some are curled but others are just like splinters. Different tools for different jobs, that was what my father said when I asked him about his collection of blades, guns, darts, ropes, chains and explosives.

I am at the mask makers knees, he pats my head. I like the feeling, his hands are warm and rough. He takes a long look at me and winks, I wink back. He laughs and makes a few final chips into the dark wood. 

We can paint it later, try it on.

He places it against my face. It smells wonderful, the grain is fresh and fierce, dark and shiny. I can see through the eye slots just fine, the wood feels right against my skin. I look over at a mirror leaning against the wall. 

I am a small child and my parents hope I will begin to grow soon, but I can keep up with the other kids just fine. My hands match the wood but my hands are not powerful, not yet.

This mask covers my face, it's nearly circular. It has a wide nose, and a wider grin, the teeth aren't like mine, they are all dagger like and angled with the smile. I stick my tongue out between the rows of needle teeth. The eyes are as happy as the mouth, angled down and shaped into half circles. I am a happy murdering monster.

Mother and father will be pleased.

\-----

\---This next starred entry is the last significant one while they are at Beacon. Turing writes that it is a premonition of their destiny.

Walking in the Forever Fall forest is a peaceful experience. Occasionally there are Grimm, but that day we had the woods to ourselves. We were basking in success, making plans, and stretching our limbs. The last month of the last semester would be behind us at the end of that day. We would receive our licenses as official Huntsmen for Remnant. We were ready, we were strong. The day was bright, and we laughed, a lot.

When we decided to head back for the bonfire we walked into a lady. She greeted us pleasantly and we nodded as we walked by her. 

Why a four man team with only three people, how curious.

She had our attention. I later confirmed that we all noticed her silver eyes first.

Is it not curious? That in a world with repetitions of four you represent a unity of three people, and coincidently the seasons, of which there are four, are divided into three months in the twelve month calendar.

Natoya held Adime's hand.

How did you all form you your team?

We were instructed to climb out of a canyon as a team of our own making.

An intuitive grouping proposed by yourselves, how curious. An excellent explanation for your fate.

I am afraid you are mistaken, please excuse us.

Hold on one more minute. Patience young man, let me tell you a story about the first huntsmen. I see that you are becoming one tonight. The first huntsmen, we're so powerful they could scare the Grimm with a look. A special kind of glance that only people with silver eyes could recreate. These brave warriors protected humanity as best they could, but there were too many and not enough huntsmen to ensure everyone's safety. People settled down in their wooden shelters. Out of those first walls came new huntsmen trained by the silver eyed warriors. Enough people took up the mantle to protect all of humanity, people grew strong, swift, smart and spread far.

We appreciate that you have shared this with us, but as you said we have somewhere to be.

Wait, wait I have something I must give you.

She reached beneath her too large shawl and withdrew a squirming puppy. 

To say we couldn't become more surprised was an understatement.

I was given this dog's mother so that I could give you her puppy.

She handed me the dog.

If life is a chain, you cannot escape endings but you can be connected to eternity.

What the hell lady?! Natoya shouted.

Kivoli and I looked over our shoulders at Natoya’s red face. Adime had hung his head. Natoya gasped and we looked back toward the silver eyed lady. She was gone.

\--- They graduated and traveled to Atlas. Where everything changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turing names the dog Null.  
> If you know German that means Zero, Zwei means two.
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Thoughts?


	5. Being Huntsmen: Notes about after Graduation

\---Null was not just a pretty face. Squat with short legs and an excited tail, he was mostly white but had a blocky brown head and brown boots. Turing never spoke about Null but took many extra measures to ensure that the dog was always looked after. When they were finally able to leave Atlas Turing snuck Null through the borders to the other Kingdoms. Kivoli and Null had the funniest relationship especially when her semblance advanced, Null loved fetch and as their group soon became archeologists the game was on between Kivoli and Null to see who could retrieve the most.

\--- It is a funny thing that as I read through all of Turing's journals, I smiled. Turing was not one for puns or writing down the jokes and mishaps that happened on their travels. His language is bright and feather light. When they all first set out, hardly twenty years old, the war had been over for over two decades, the Kingdoms were swelling with success and new ideas. The Kingdoms were very particular about which people were allowed to freely travel between the hubs of civilization. The group went to Atlas because both the Vibrant twins and Natoya were from there and Kivoli could sneak into anyplace. 

\---There missions at school had given them a good reputation if not one of idealistic principles. They set up their accounts and let Adime be the answering machine. The first year out of Beacon they stayed on the move throughout all of Atlas. They saved villages, damsels in distress, stopped a dam from collapsing, flushed out a cave full of Ursa, found a cemetery that locals thought was haunted by ghosts of fallen soldiers but was really just a King Taijitu moving around in the mist.

\---This was the first time Adime had come across the viper Grimm and he absolutely refused to go near it. Turing notes that he believes his brother has a phobia, he tested it a few times and confirmed the fear of snakes. Turing couldn't pinpoint where it might have developed in his brother, Turing had no such fear. He wrote down, in a very small font and tucked nearly into the spine of the pages, what if Adime is constructing his own soul?

\---Turing never writes about this thought again. If he did experiment on Adime he does not mention that either. Natoya, when she did write things down, never wrote about the team.

\---My notes about Natoya from this time were just as light as Turing's. She rekindled her defunct relationship with her sister, settled her mind about that blue sky day on the hillside when she visited her family's graves, and she gave herself a goal. Looking at that page in her journal where she wrote down her goal is not easy. The sentence is the only thing on the page, and one of the last entries in the journal.

\---Natoya was obsessive. She fixated on hunting Grimm, it altered her personality allowing for extreme anger and rash actions. After Adime spoke to her and she saw that she was powerful she made strides to keep up that power, and to make it grow. After their success in Atlas she wrote this goal the same day they got the approval to freely travel to other Kingdoms.

I will see that I am more, that I reach the highest and that I don't fall.

\---In the context of that exciting day I can see why she would resolve to keep the triumph going, however I have the knowledge of what she became. This sentence, this goal set in motion all the calamity that followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short notes chapter about where things are going to be headed, and stuff about Null.
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Thoughts?


	6. Being Huntsmen: The Discovery

\---Turing begins the details of their first few weeks in Atlas with:

Somehow, and I'm not altogether surprised by it, Kivoli beat us to the airport. She didn't fly, ride on a ship or walk on water, though that last idea I have no evidence in which to disprove the possibility.

\---As noted previously they spent their time in Atlas rather casually for young Huntsmen. They had energy, they were strong, well educated… and overall optimistic about their prospects.

\---As they begin their second year in Atlas the team takes a day off. Natoya proposes a picnic on a familiar hillside. The location brings up a conversation about Grimm, Natoya relates her story to the team. While the rest of the team nods and remains quiet Turing asks a question.

\---Adime chose to record this afternoon, it is quite reminiscent of their afternoon in the courtyard at Beacon Academy.

Adime looks at his brother, who adjusting his glasses plows right into an ill-timed question.

You said the Grimm were Beowolves? How many?

Five.

All young most likely, where was your sister thrown too?

Natoya points at the tree line down the hill.

I wonder if the Grimm were tossing her to the rest of the pack.

Turing that's enough, I don't want to think about that. It was already an unusual circumstance. Every recorded attack in this area was blamed on the tensions created by the war. So when the fighting moved off of Atlas we thought we would be safe. My father, he…. he just wanted us to forget for a day that there was a war.

Turing stands up, holding his chin, fixing his glasses. He nods and paces a few steps up the hill, then back down. He makes up his mind and says that he is off to the library, stay and enjoy the afternoon.

\---The rest of Adime's recording is dedicated to watching Null run into Kivoli's shadow and back out slowly almost as if he were dragging something. He would tumble out suddenly panting and they would laugh but Kivoli especially loudly. I imagine Null found the small guard in the shadow and unsuccessfully tried to pull him out, he was certainly successful in bothering the small thing.

\---Turing wrote about his findings in the library. He said the librarian was not much help but gave him the general direction for the recorded attacks. At the end of the afternoon he had a list of the dates and details of each attack. They were indeed all attributed to the war. Next he went to the section that would tell him about the fighting on Atlas, then onto the newspapers where he sat until early the next morning browsing for unreported attacks or sightings.

\---The war on Atlas was not a long one, it came at the end for a period of four years, which in comparison to other continents like Mistral which hosted the main battle for over a decade, is a light sentence.

\---There were few records of attacks before the war in the official documentation. But in the newspapers the list was much more extensive. There were petitions by the citizens to the General to eradicate the high volume of Grimm in several spots just outside the Kingdom’s walls. Turing drew up a map of the locations for the claims of a high volume of Grimm.

\---Much like Mountain Glenn in later years, Atlas had tried several times to expand, and had failed. Grimm naturally gathered in those places, but few Grimm attacks were reported there, except when filed by Huntsmen. Instead the places that citizens reported attacks were often in the open hillsides outside of the city. 

\---The site of the Natoya's family picnic had hosted fifty previous attacks going back two hundred years. In fact in the first ever newspaper printed by the Atlesian Times there was an incident report by a young boy who had run away from his family and come across a Beowolf pack, in the same trees that Natoya's sister had rolled into.

\---Turing wrote down his hypothesis and shared it with Adime, who was still with the team, enjoying breakfast. They converse for a few minutes about it and Turing asks Adime to propose an archaeological experiment to their teammates. Kivoli jumps at the chance claiming she hadn't raided any tombs for too long. Natoya says why not?

\---Adime records their attempt at being archeologists.

Kivoli is doubled over laughing, Natoya has plunged a shovel into the dirt and is trying to heave out the hunk of earth, surprised by how difficult it is. The conclusion of the attempt sends a large rock at Kivoli who catches it and chases Natoya with it above her head. 

Adime looks over at his brother. Turing has purple circles under his eyes, and he keeps absentmindedly pushing up his glasses.

Wasn't it the tree line you wanted to look into first?

Yes, send those two down when they've finished.

\---I wonder at Turing's motivations at points like this one. The first year went by quickly and they packed it full of hunts and rescues. I believe he knew he would find something, I doubt he wanted to take the discovery just for himself. He let Kivoli, Natoya and Adime enjoy the time because, in my opinion, he hoped he wouldn't find anything.

\---Turing writes this about the discovery.

I entered the tree line not sure what to look for. An old structure? Maybe a crumbling wall? The woods were dark, the trees old, but the air moved well, I could smell the water, the birds spoke to one another, about me perhaps, or the weather?

I walked the perimeter first, that took me back to the wall of the city. Then I walked a little deeper in and back the way I had come. When I tripped over a collapsed stone marker I lay on the ground thinking over the possibilities. It could have been a tree root? Or a squirrel...but I knew it had been stone. It could just be a stone washed downhill over a long period of time or one that had been exposed due to erosion. It had felt carved, the rectangular shape being what had caught my foot. It could be something from the kingdom they were fond of simple shapes. I would have to look at it and test it to see just how old it could be.

The earth was turned and cool on my forehead. I took in that smell to steady myself. In one movement I pushed myself up, then I slowly turned around to face the stone.

I had tripped over it because a flicker to my left had caught my eye, the four foot slab of shaped stone lay on its side, covered in vines. I wore glasses for a reason but even my eyesight would have picked out that unnatural growth of ivy, if I had been paying attention.

A few tugs removed the old plants. The stone was granite, a common gray, I was able to get a sturdy stick under it. At first I just rolled it onto another side, I looked at the newly exposed muddy face, a few worms squirmed, shocked at their sudden reveal. I brushed them away, there were engraved numbers, almost familiar numbers. I began to get nervous at this point. I believe this feeling is what alerted Natoya to where I was.

They later told me that had been shouting for me, but I chalked it up to being so focused on the marker that I couldn't hear them. Natoya and Adime made light work of the pillar. We cleaned it off and tried to take a rubbing of the engraving.

We decided to move the marker into a better light. We marked our path with orange paint. In the sunlight Kivoli pointed out the cuts in the stone that showed it was probably topped with some sort of ornament, the base looked like it had been cut to fit into a base and that the numbers were a pre-dust age system of counting. Natoya punched her arm, calling her a know-it-all, Kivoli winked.

With that we had our first piece of the puzzle.

I knew a marker could mean a few things, elevation, significant location, directional sign etc., I had a feeling that because there were numbers, Kivoli translated it to a horizontal distance of 2 kilometers, that this was some type of road sign. Which meant there was a road.

We went back to where we had found the pillar. The shovel was put to use and we unearthed the base, more granite, with a square hole the perfect size to hold the marker. We returned the stone to its housing.

We dug up that place for two days before we found the road. The marker’s base had been just a foot below the surface but the road was three. We didn't know anything about soil deposits or how the terrain looked like in pre-dust era Atlas, we probably ruined a lot of things, but we found that road. It didn't go out of the woods toward the hillside, but did head west. We spent a month just following the road. We didn't even try to dig it up, the thing was nearly thirty feet wide at some points. We lost it on too many occasions and ultimately guessed where it ended. We weren't wrong.

The road ended at the gate of probably one of the oldest ruins in human history.

I decided to keep this discovery to ourselves. We spent the rest of the year excavating the site or going on hunts to fund the excavation. Sometime Kivoli and Natoya would disappear for two months to work and then come back and Adime and I would go out. I was uncomfortable leaving the site for much longer than two weeks, soon I never left it.

We unearthed more roads, more signs, a market square, a meeting pavilion, houses, statues, walls. Evidence that they built their homes from wood found in this very forest, the stone query was found to the south at a bend in the river. 

This ancient city must have held nearly five hundred people. We guessed that the wall was only ever ten feet high, useless against most Grimm. The trees grew tight at the edge of the city, meaning this city had always been in the trees. The road led out of the woods, that marker was the sign to direct people to the city in the woods. The forest had grown into the city, over and beyond the road.

500 people had lived, in wooden houses, with a small wall protecting them from the Grimm, it would have been impossible to achieve that scale of human life successfully with such fortifications. Not before dust, not before huntsmen. Before huntsmen. 

\---Turing didn't write it down but I knew at the moment he wrote that last line he had pieced something together. He writes much later, when his hypothesis proved correct what he had known for some time.

The Silver eyed warriors were the first huntsmen and they gave their skills to all of humanity in order that it could defend itself and spread. It is my belief that these cities we have unearthed are the first products of that success.

\---Turing was wrong. He was close, but he went into each of those ancient cities believing that they were founded by the silver eyed warriors. He was from Atlas which was a military state, it is almost a natural thought that the military would form a city in a time when defense was so paramount.

\---Adime has a picture saved, the one that they submitted for the grant to leave the Kingdom and travel to other Kingdoms. Each member of the team has a hand in the photo, each of them holding a coin. Each coin has its own raised design. Adime holds one with two axes. Turing has the one with three swords. Natoya held the coin that was decorated with a spear. Kivoli squeezed the coin showing a fire in a winged ring.

\---Turing submitted the grant with the described photo, stating they had unearthed the coins in a chest and it showed early post-dust discovery of intercontinental trading between villages. He said he wanted to find the trade route and to do that he would need the luxury of travel.

\---They were granted the freedom, and even supplied a small plane. The funding wasn't as reliable but they agreed to pick up the odd job along the way as they had done in Atlas, it meant it would take longer but they would hopefully learn more about each Kingdom as they hunted.

\---They started in Vacuo. Following the trail of Grimm attacks reported in whichever part of the Kingdom they walked through. When they came across libraries they read all they could, and soon their reputation preceded them and they no longer had to bribe librarians to leave them with the keys.

\---They found many dead ends, but killed a lot of Grimm. On the Vibrant twins twenty-fifth birthday they went out on a hike. They had yet to dare to travel too far into the desert exhausting as many other leads as they could before daring such a feat. On that day they trekked into the sand. A popular hiking trail to a light house was their objective. The trail wound among dunes for the first two miles taking the hiker deeper into the wasteland, but the reward was the canyon. The sand disappeared into sandstone, blood red sandstone. The light house rested on one side of a large chasm, the hike up to it asked that the walker work their way in a spiral along a narrow eroded path.

\---Adime has a recording.

He can see the reflective trail marker. It is not yet midday but it is hot and dry. The wind is up and they are all bundled up and wearing goggles because the sand is hot and painful. Adime turns because Natoya has grabbed a hold of his scarf. She points out to the east.

A red-brown cloud nearly two hundred feet tall is rushing towards them.

They are on the last leg of the climb, the light house fifty feet down the path. It is probably the safest place to go to. They all dash along the narrow trail. Natoya still has a hold of his scarf, so when she trips and falls he is pulled down with her. 

Turing grabs him and dislocates his shoulder, one nearly metal person and one storage unit are not as light as air. Kivoli has Turing around the waist and her foot is hooked in a crack in the cliff. 

Adime feels Turing use his semblance to pull him up, it is a slow haul. As he is passing a shadow, most likely Kivoli's, two small eyes are looking at him and then up to where Kivoli is straining to hold onto Turing and the stone.

The sand storm is beating at Natoya now who is mostly dangling, Null is barking anxiously, running back and forth over top of Kivoli who to her credit doesn't snap at him to stop. Adime is reaching for Natoya, his scarf is slipping sending her farther away. He asks Turing to grab Natoya instead, Turing either doesn't hear or doesn't listen. 

Adime can hear Kivoli cursing that she isn't twenty-six yet.

A forceful gust pushes Natoya into the cliff and when she bounces back her head is bleeding and she looks disoriented. Turing is red faced, and in obvious pain, the swing probably tore something in his shoulder. Another gust comes and there is nothing any of them can do when Natoya and Adime fall into the chasm. 

\---Adime stops recording after he sees Turing's face. Distraught, yelling, angry.

\---Turing writes that Kivoli picked him up and jumped over after them. They couldn't see through the storm, it was all darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Thoughts?


	7. Being Huntsmen: In the Dark all along

\---Adime used Natoya's weapon to stop their free fall, he had Natoya in one arm and was holding them both up with his other. Kivoli could see this, she also noticed the shadow they had stopped right next to. The next heavy wind would blow them away from it if she didn't get them into it. She aimed her staff with its spear head pointed at Adime. It was a terrible angle and they would fall through to who knows where but she threw her spear into Adime's hand. The spear cut right through the metal hand and into Natoya's platform. But Kivoli had thrown it so hard the impact dragged the platform towards the shadow. It didn't quite get them into it but Kivoli was diving at them and when the two of them hit their teammates they were going to end up somewhere. 

\---The sandstorm raged against Kivoli just as her feet hit the platform, but Kivoli got them all into that shadow, with nowhere to let them out.

\---As this wasn't Kivoli's shadow she could not achieve the same level of transportation with others as she could alone. She needed Natoya's semblance in order to find any sort of safe space to reappear. However at this time Natoya was concussed. 

\---Kivoli was the only one that could see anything in this cramped dark space, Turing knew enough to remain still and calm, Adime took his cue from his brother. Natoya was hyperventilating, Kivoli held her partner soothing her with quiet words and a steady mantra of breathe, in through your nose and out through your mouth.

\---When Natoya was calmed down enough to focus on a task Kivoli asked her to use her semblance so they could find a place to exit. After some convincing, Natoya agreed to look for water, it usually contained living matter.

\---Kivoli didn't tell her team but she knew they had a deadline for staying in this shadow, the air would run out. Natoya found the water just in time and Kivoli grabbed them all and let Natoya's semblance lead the way.

\---They fell out of the ceiling into a large cavern, the ceiling was low, but with a concussed woman and a man with a torn rotator cuff any fall is too high. Kivoli caught Natoya and Adime caught Turing, they both settled their partners against the ground as comfortably as they could manage.

Where is the water?

I must have messed up but this will work.

\---Turing writes that after the shock of being in an open dark space as opposed to the cramped dark one he shook himself and began to handle the situation like he should have been earlier.

Adime give us some light.

Adime had lights when he was a hoverbike so he simply opened up his shirt so that they could shine through his chest. The open space went back into a wall but the ceiling rose out of sight their also. The rest was walls and floor.

Adime carry Natoya we are going through that opening.

Kivoli points out after they find a way out she can come back and pick up Natoya so that her concussion doesn't worsen.

She has a token, I will be able to find her, just leave her with a light so she has a shadow for me to drag her sorry behind through.

\---They left Natoya with a small light. I know Kivoli thought she was doing what was best, but it was easily the worst decision she made in her life. They left Natoya her armor not expecting her to need it and had Adime transform into the hover bike so that they could float up through the gap in the ceiling.

\---I'm sure the team felt exposed, they usually had Natoya to tell them what they were walking into or what was coming up on them, but luckily no Grimm had raided this system of tunnels in millennia.

\---Natoya had promised not to fall asleep but it was a hard thing to not do without anything to look at and instructions to not move around. I am afraid that in her weakened state Natoya was too easy of a target. As I began my studies the first thing I looked into was how Natoya was killed. Her death was timed seamlessly with the release of a huge amount of energy from an ancient dungeon.

\---I have concluded that when Natoya used her semblance to find a source of water she actually found the dark parasite that infected her that day. This creature lured Natoya to that spot and when her team left her alone it infected her. First it was an auditory hallucination, the sound of dripping water. Anyone gets thirsty when they hear that sound, especially someone who had just been walking around a desert. Natoya followed the sound to the underground lake they had all expected to find in that cavern. 

\---When Natoya looked into the water she was looking at the illusion of the parasite. She dipped her hands in and drank the water, swallowing the parasite, that is when it began to talk to her. It showed her a reflection of herself as any water might. Red eyes shone back at her.

Natoya why are you afraid of being weak? When you have a team you will never be weak. Though, right now you aren't very strong, your team is doing the best they can without you. If you were there to help them they would be out of this mess, but you have to recover. I can help you recover.

She didn't listen to the voice at first but it wheedled its way into her fears.

I will make sure you never lose all that you have gained, you will never be weak Natoya, I promise you. Let me make you the strongest protector and the steadiest huntress. Say you want to never lose again, I can make that happen.

I don't want to lose anything, not my family again, not my team, not the chance to be the huntress that makes a difference in this dark world.

Good, you know what you don't want to lose. We are the same, I don't want you to lose either, let me be a part of you. I will be your armor if you are the strength that carries it.

Yes, I am strong and I don't want to be weak. Please help me be stronger.

I will help you remain the strongest.

\---The parasites words were just to make its host willing, it needed to form all of the connections to various parts of her brain before it could begin to develop. Natoya was doomed in the instant she drank the parasite, the rest was just the locks sliding home in her prison. The parasite didn't talk to her much after this except on one particular night when a silver eyed woman registered in its own fear center. On that night it exerted all of its control to sever Natoya from her team so that it would be as far away from that woman as possible on a round planet.

\---Kivoli came back for Natoya, she found her asleep right where she had left her. It had been four hours since they parted, Kivoli picked up her friend and walked into her shadow excited to wake her friend up so she could see what Turing, Adime and she had discovered.

\-----

\---Turing writes that while this system of tunnels and caverns was an obvious place for a settlement he never expected to have found it because they needed to escape a sandstorm. After they left Natoya they had followed the opening up, it was more of a shaft, twenty feet wide, some small openings appeared but none large enough for them to travel down. The shaft opened into another large room. Adime lit up the space and they saw that it was an intersection of four, five if you count the shaft, tunnels.

Is this natural?

I don't see any tool marks, it could be that a creek or stream of some sort used to flow through here, Natoya did sense water.

Adime tells them that each tunnel bends, to the north.

Turing leads them down the tunnel to their right, it does turn north and takes them into another large space, with two other tunnels. Soon they are running down the tunnels always choosing to go north. That is how they find the city. More intact than they could have hoped.

\---Turing tells Kivoli to go get Natoya while Adime and he make a few notes and then they are getting out of there. After Kivoli winks away Turing asks Adime to fly around and look for an exit.

\---Turing writes, because we had been traveling north I guessed we were going to come up somewhere close to the capital, I wasn't wrong. Adime found an old staircase, wide and worn, cracked almost like something large had fallen upon it all those millennia ago. The doors were nonexistent a rockslide had blocked the exit. Turing tells Adime to move the rocks, preferably without blowing things up.

\---Kivoli returns with the sleeping Natoya just as sunlight enters the city. Turing writes that he is surprised that the stone is polished to reflect the light, the cavern is illuminated by people's homes. Natoya wakes up at this moment complaining she has a headache and they all chuckle, misunderstanding the reason for her pain.

\---Turing's guess was correct and they are not far from the entrance to the modern city. He has Adime hide the entrance and they leave the desert to return the next day. His hypothesis is confirmed, ancient cities built by the silver eyed warriors existed and the new kingdoms rose out of them as humanity learned to defend itself.

\---The Vacuo excavation went quickly, mainly because they didn't need to use a shovel. They found evidence that the city was attacked and was most likely abandoned afterwards, they again found those same types of coins, one representing each of the kingdoms. When they had explored enough of the city and charted the tunnels they hid the city and went to Mistral.

\---Turing knew what to look for now, an ancient city at the doorstep of the modern one. They were in Mistral for two years because unearthing a sunken city is a lot of trouble. It was hard to find much because the swamps had eaten nearly everything, they did find a statue, it was made from a rock not found in Mistral but Vale. A woman was sculpted, she was looking up, presumably at whatever she held in her raised right hand, only her head and torso had survived the years.

\---Vale was the easiest, Mountain Glenn had yet to be attempted when they explored the southeast side of Vale. Turing guessed that the mountainside would be where the ancient city might have rested, the mountain would have acted as a barrier for maybe two sides of the city. 

\---It is interesting that Turing picks out this mountainside, for it is the very same mountain that a large Grimm Dragon erupts from on a dark day in Beacon’s future.

\---Siting in those ruins Turing draws up their paper, nearly seven and a half years of field studies, map drawings, and notes. He has twenty pages in two days. He makes a few phone calls to his old professors to find the best way to publish but before any can come back with a definite answer a woman pays them a visit.

\---Turing describes the night in his journals because it marked the end of their team.

Natoya warned us that someone was approaching, a familiar someone but she couldn't remember from where. Null ran around my feet excitedly, I held onto him as the silver eyed woman entered our campsite, stepping into the light of the campfire we had been sitting around.

Hello again. I see you still have the dog.

He won't leave home without him.

Kivoli thinks she is funny. I invited her to sit with us, offered her tea or the leftovers from dinner but she refused them, only walking a few more steps in. I was standing and so were Adime and Kivoli but Natoya who was on the far side kept her seat, I didn't pay it much attention at the time but I can guess now that she was becoming agitated.

Congratulations on your discovery.

Is that why you are here? Natoya's voice was too high.

I am here to congratulate you on discovering ancient cities, and to tell you that you are wrong. You do not really know why they were built or by whom.

The silver eyed warriors built them, you confirmed it when we first met, saying that they taught humanity to defend themselves.

I did say that the silver eyed warriors taught humanity their skills, I said nothing about building cities. It was someone else's idea to gather together. There were never enough silver eyed warriors for them to remain in one place for too long, they were and are nomads. You should not publish this paper because it is not true, when you know everything then you will see that you should never publish it.

Natoya scoffed and Adime looked at me, I was nervous about being wrong, I had spent seven years researching this, and I was wrong. Kivoli as usual saved us.

You know the history of these cities, the truth?

I do.

But you won't tell us?

No I won't. But I won't stop you from finding the truth, should you succeed I will see you again.

I agreed not to publish the paper. Natoya shouted, why? And when I turned to tell her that we couldn't publish lies, I saw an angry and afraid face. I looked over my shoulder to see that Natoya was watching the silver eyed woman, who was watching her. I asked Natoya what was wrong and she dragged her eyes to mine.

We will publish the paper.

I'm not publishing lies Natoya.

We need to publish the paper, we deserve to be recognized for our work.

Natoya there are more important things.

Stop being such an idealist. 

Stop hunting for power.

I went to far, I had known for the past year that power was driving Natoya, lust for control energized her and directed her actions. What I said was wrong, it was the wrong place to bring it up and the wrong way. Natoya left, she sent Kivoli away, she sent Adime away and I didn't go after her at all. I thought she would come back I didn't worry about her I only berated myself.

The silver eyed woman was gone when I did remember that we had an audience. 

I went to the library at Beacon and didn't leave for three days. I expected Natoya to walk in, I expected to hear Kivoli laugh and Natoya feign a hurt sound after Kivoli punched her. I expected Adime to be able to hug his friend again. 

When I did exit the library Adime and Kivoli were sitting under a large tree in the courtyard. As I got closer I saw that Adime had his chin on his knees and Kivoli was leaning against the tree her right hand in a fist. She showed me the token, before I could ask her what was wrong, the presence of the token explained it.

Kivoli was a hero, with our permission she had given us each a token. Mine was a smooth marble disk, Adime had a sun shaped silver ring, and Natoya's was a glass disk holding a pressed yellow flower, small and perfectly preserved. That Kivoli held that token in her hand meant that she was no longer able to step out of Natoya's shadow and rescue her. She no longer had the permission from her partner to see her ever again.

I believe Kivoli tried to find Natoya, but there are a lot of shadows in the world, and I begin to feel that the world is dark. Light creates a shadow, but darkness is not shadow, and a shadow cannot be found in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Thoughts?


	8. Being Huntsmen: Call us Team Humanity

\---Turing discovered that the fall of each of those civilizations coincided to reports of appearances of the silver eyed people. The silver eyed warriors had come to clean up the mess, but who had built it?

\---Turing took his team back to the mountainside to go over what they could and try to piece together the real story. Adime tried his best to pay attention but he merely walked in the direction Turing instructed him to, he didn't look at the old platforms or crumbling pavers. Kivoli did her best to swallow her sadness and work. Turing left his friends to their grief he felt that if he could solve this problem the next one would solve itself. It would be a simple fix, the answer would appear and they would bring Natoya back. He had control of this, he could find the answer, he was going to find it.

\---It is evident, to me, that even though Turing had seen just how far the summer had advanced into fall he had yet to notice the chill attached to the changing of the seasons. As I write this, I am deep into the winter, the end of year is fast approaching and I fear what the new year will bring, what kind of spring is being born out of this desolate, bitter storm?

\---Turing writes.

In the middle of a courtyard I realized I was standing on pavers. Pavers that had been cut from the mountainside, laid by hand, designed into a pattern. I ran to the remnants of the gates, they were just the bases of what must have been a large upheaval of rock. I had originally assumed the people had just carved a door into that mass, but what if they had made the rock rise out of the mountainside? What if the reason we didn't see evidence of construction was because there had been none? The walls that protected the city were not made of stacked stones, where the wall still stood, much eroded and cracked it was just stone, the same stone as the mountain, not shaped or even level. As if a hand had reached into the earth and pulled out the wall. As if a human had used dust.

I shared my thoughts with Kivoli who had wandered up to the gates. 

This is a pre-dust city, the silver eyed warriors brought the dust techniques to the people after this place was destroyed.

But what made the people gather here then? They wouldn't, not 500 hundred people, gather unless they felt safe. The walls were basically decorative, an allusion to the real thing protecting them.

Something that could protect them… what would they gather around?

Someone that could protect them. In the library I read that one of the ways the silver eyed warriors described dust to the people was with a legend. A legend of a man against the Grimm. This man could wield the elements and he fought the Grimm with that magic. They compared that power to the dust. 

So where does that leave us? Adime had walked up and he reached out to me, rested his hand on my shoulder, I squeezed his hand and smiled, a small reassuring smile, we would get Natoya back.

We need to look up that legend.

\---Turing is, of course, referring to the legend of the four maidens. The old man in the story bequeathed his great power onto four women. Turing guessed that after those four women left, they split up and went out to help humanity. To help them grow, they were so powerful they took on the responsibility of as many as 500 other human lives. They built cities and kept their charges safe, and gave them a life to live. But 500 souls were the limit, 500 minds can't be contained behind city walls and the Grimm feed off of the unrest of human hearts.

\---When the silver eyed warriors did arrive, the cities were rubble and the people gone. They picked up the pieces and taught people to work together to defend themselves and their system has granted humanity the strength to succeed. 

\---The silver eyed woman found them again and they told her that the four maidens had built the cities.

You believe four women were powerful enough to protect a city?

We believe that each one of the maidens was strong enough to build a city and sustain 500 lives on each of the four continents.

You are not wrong. What will you do now that you know the truth?

What happened to the maidens?

They are alive, kept secret, they are protected now.

Protected from what?

The old man in the story, what did he fight?

The silver eyed warriors said he fought the Grimm.

The old man is the representation of humanity, his power is that which binds humanity as one. What he fought is the power that raises the Grimm against us. The strength of humanity is that is grows when united, Grimm are the wedge that shatters the whole. The power manifested in four women so that they could spread across the world, and give humanity the chance to spread. My people, the people with silver eyes should have been a part of that, we should have joined them but we are stubborn and wary of the Grimm, what we should have been was willing to fight for the unity of all peoples. Even today, four separate Kingdoms, and the memory of a war that solidified their differences. This is not how humanity survives.

What happens now that we know?

I'm afraid you are going to have to become willing participants in the fight to rebind humanity as one.

We have to become willing?

It is my way of saying you have no choice. We are a secret and will always have to be one, the four maidens can not enter the public's mind. We must protect them from the other force, if we lose them then we lose the strength to be one and the Grimm will reign. The other force is locked away, but it's energy still exists, it is what drives the Grimm against us. We must continue to beat back the Grimm, give people the chance to grow into one. It is a long fight, and I can't see if there is an end to it, but the more people learn to support one another the closer we are to that unity.

We would be fighting for a land without Grimm?

That dark power drives intelligent creatures into madness, I don't know if Grimm will cease to exist or if they will become neutral beings on this round planet, like any other wild thing in the woods. You are a part of this now, this is the bigger picture, you are a link in the chain, connected to the beginning and the end.

\-----

\---Some years later Turing and Adime receive a call asking that they gather at the old city in Vale. This will be the first time in two years that they will see Kivoli again, and the first time in four that they've heard from Alba, their silver eyed friend.

\---The meeting is not a happy gathering. It is a meeting to deliver terrible news. The energy that had been trapped was back out in the world. The deep place it had been locked in had developed a crack and as the sun rose this morning something slipped in from the outside and released the dark thing inside. 

\---Turing, Adime and Kivoli never know that Natoya was the host to the dark parasite. I believe I am the one to have discovered this. The four maidens could not understand what had cracked the prison, and I don't know either, perhaps the Great War had done more than take human life and divide minds?

\---The parasite killed Natoya once it had taken everything from her, her friends, her remaining family, her heart, her mind and her strength. It killed her on the morning of the first day of a winter I have not been able to pull humanity out of.

\---Her chain link ended, but her connection was the first in the chain that gave Salem the power to return. That parasite took everything that had been Natoya so that it could feed the monster that is Salem. Salem was not born that day but reanimated, reincarnated, in a new shape, and with a new plan.

 

It is a funny thing that life is long when you look at it from the bottom of the hill. When you look back at it from the top, it never seems to be enough. 

 

\---I met Turing, Adime and Kivoli when I was ten years old. My village was in danger and I knew my aura was strong enough to protect it from the FEAR. 

\---In between the news that the greatest evil had just gotten a second chance to destroy humanity and the day we met, Kivoli heard of Natoya's death. They attended their old friends funeral and began a different kind of fight. One that brought them to their knees right in front of me. This battle humbled some of the strongest, most intelligent huntsmen I have ever studied. Nearly forty years they fought against more terrible things than Grimm. They fought against the ideas that draw Grimm, against the prejudices that divide people, they fought against the borders and restrictions on travel and they fought the FEAR. I wish I could have met them in the summer, this winter has destroyed everything that is good and whole in the world. 

\---The day we met, was the last day of their fight and the first day of mine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this penultimate chapter.
> 
> Thoughts?


	9. One of Us

\---I do not share this with you because I think you need to know. I share it because you need to be ready.

My village was in Vale, close to the coast, we had erratic weather in the summer and blizzards that buried the coast in the fall, while the sun melted the leftover snow in the winter. I was used to crazy seasons, I was used to walking out on my own with my large boots on and a scarf up to my nose.

I didn't really know about being a huntsmen, I had grown up with the stories and I often saw the solitary men and women walk through the village, but I was too nervous to ask them about what they did. I knew I wanted to go to one of the academies, I wanted to go not because I could spend hours daydreaming about the daring rescues I would perform. I felt, in my heart the aura that protected me, that reacted to my soul, when I looked at my mother and father, my brothers and sisters, my friends and neighbors, I felt my aura engulf us and join us together. I was going to be a huntsmen because my aura connected me to people and I felt stronger with them as a part of me.

I was on one of the perimeter trails I had stamped over the past few weeks, the snow was melting and I walked through the brown slush, occasionally sending a nice glob into the air. I clutched my chest because a dreadful feeling had entered it. My family, my village was a target, I could feel the dark thoughts bent around my home. I ran, sliding and sloshing across glistening white, the reflection made it hard to see but I was lead by the feeling.

I was at the gate when the feeling solidified, I felt its weight at my back. I didn't want to turn around, I didn't want to give the feeling a face. My village was quiet, the morning had hardly begun, only the fires were awake at this time of day. I let go of my chest, took my nose out of my scarf, and I released my aura. I covered the whole village, I protected the whole village, I was still scared to turn around.

Don't worry kid we are here to protect you, and your village, just keep up the good work.

The voice was quiet, reassuring, she sounded like my mother, when I hadn't dropped the milk jug, an old voice, but a strong one.

I heard the roar next, and I was afraid, I heard them run towards that battle cry, I heard them clash with the thing. I heard more things arrive. The air swam with dust, electricity popped, fire stormed, earth moved. I remained as I was, protecting my people, unable to help the heroes.

The fight was a long one, I could feel the weight rolling around close to and far away from me. Once the woman came back and I saw her left leg, bleeding but covered in various disks, some gold, some silver, some stone, some wood and one made of glass. Then she was gone. It was almost quiet after that, a few running feet, then a hand on my shoulder. The woman.

Get inside your village, the danger is gone.

She looked back over her shoulder at something. The danger was gone, for me, but not for her. She pushed me gently in through the gates. I was inside of my own aura now, and I looked back at her. She was walking towards a red, no a black, dot out in the field. Red arcs rotated around each other and the dark dot. As she grew close to the spark two men walked into it and she followed after them.

I ran out into the field, and I didn't think, because I ran into that spark too.

The woman caught me and set me on my feet, she brushed off some mud I had collected when I ran across the field.

Why did you come through after us?

What a kind face, and such sad eyes.

Adime look after him, keep him here we are too close to her chamber.

Adime was a youthful tall figure in muddy white Atlesian leather. He smiled at me and held out his hand. I took it.

I couldn't smell anything, or hear anything but these huntsmen's quiet voices. The world around me was dark with red sinister lighting. The floor felt warm, I wasn't in Vale anymore.

There was a red arch in front of us, the woman and her partners eyes were trained on it. The man began to sneak up to it. His sword was at the ready, the woman had her guns out, and moved to the center of the doors, preparing to knock them in.

A voice called out to us, surrounded us and turned the lights on.

The world was green, then it was on fire and then it was black and smoldering. I was in a room, but then I was on a cliff, red fire burning below me.

Welcome. Please step in.

A child's voice was speaking to us, a young girl.

We were in her chamber, just pulled inside. At the other end of the room there were the monsters, flowing around something, a bed? I was so afraid, I couldn't think, I began to cry. Adime squeezed my hand and patted my head, I couldn't hear what he said I only saw the FEAR. Then I saw her. She looked right at me, red eyes, dark fathomless pupils. She knew who I was, she knew my fears, my desires, my dreams and my nightmares.

Ozpin, it is good to meet you, we are the same age, you know.

Adime get him out of here!

The woman and the man charged the FEAR. They weren't fast enough, the child had control over this place, Adime held onto me as we were dragged away from his team towards the masses of FEAR. 

The woman grabbed us and we fell, and then we were suddenly in the corner of the room standing. She ran at the FEAR, jumping around, over, striking searching for the weak spot. The man was battling the FEAR at the foot of the bed. As I looked up at him the little girl looked back at me, and I was being picked up and carried to her.

Adime grabbed me and pulled me down, but as he landed a dark lance pierced his chest, and he dropped me. I was dragged along the floor, the woman grabbed me and then Adime and we were falling again.

The world was blue on the other side, then silver and hot, then gray and haunted. The woman comforted her friend. The other man was with us, he was crying.

We have to get the boy out of here. Kivoli can you send him back?

Yes, but what about Adime?

Adime is gone, I-- I can feel it, my soul, that piece is gone.

Turing, I'm sorry.

Ozpin? I'm sorry that this has happened to you, but answer this for me.  
Do you believe in destiny?

I believe that there is no escape from it.

It is a shame that the idea of a chain was put in my mind, I relate it all back to that metaphor. My link ends with you Oz, here is all that I know, take it, learn from it, prepare yourself, those you trust, give humanity the protection it needs to be whole again.

He handed me an orange disk, he had retrieved it from Adime's hand. Kivoli touched her shadow and it walked over to me, winked at me and took my hand. 

It wasn't dark in her shadow, in fact it was full of light.

\-----

Qrow looks up at me.

“Why am I just getting all of this from you now? Beacon has fallen, I didn't find you to read about the past. Tell me how we stop her!”

This history is important because it shows that Grimm feed off of humanity, separate lives are their feasting grounds. The seeds are sprouting, dark fruit is ripening, this scarecrow can't look after the whole crop. I have given him all the information now, but my link in the chain isn't finished, I'm not just passing on the calamity to the next generation, I will see this concluded.

“I didn't share this with you when I told you about the Maidens because I have only just finished it. This is how we beat Salem, together, every person huntsmen or not, against FEAR, against the dark energy that divides us.”

“And how do we go about doing that?”

“You've got the brains, think about it.”

“Oz this isn't the time for you to go off your rocker.”

“Salem wants us to use a small spark to beat her, we need the world on fire to beat her. We know the cold of winter because we recognize the warmth of summer, and we say spring is a time for new growth because we see that fall is the decay of the old. We live in a world with repetitions of four, but we are one power. Do not shield yourself from fear Qrow, it is the thing that shatters our world.”

“We can't let people burn!”

“We already are, no bridges unite us, walls stand tall between us, we cannot get any lower into the dust. Everyone is a part of this fight now, but Salem only sees the people with swords and guns. We must let the walls fall down, but we must not fall into the void, do not be afraid Qrow, do not expect the answer, be prepared to fight with me by your side, with the bartender and the monkey Faunus standing beside us. All of us, one of us against Salem.”

“I like the sound of that old friend.”

“You just like that I said the bartender would be close to you.”

“That might have something to do with it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once Volume 4 comes out this will all be null and void, but it was a fun ride.
> 
> Thank you for reading.
> 
> Hope you liked it roomie.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, this is for my roommate but I like sharing.  
> Thoughts?


End file.
